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If you’ve heard just one thing about 2K Games’ upcoming third-person shooter, Spec Ops: The Line, it’s probably that it’s leveraging some pretty impressive tech to deliver the best sand-based effects the medium’s ever seen. In fact, following a promising E3 2010 demo, many in attendance—including myself—suggested it could potentially do for the grainy stuff what BioShock did for water. After recently catching up with the title, this still appears to be the case—the effects are indeed stunning. But allowing gamers to play in the sand is far from the only reason Spec Ops is shaping up to be one of next year’s more promising titles.

Unlike most modern military shooters, the first thing that hits you in Spec Ops isn’t a hollow point or an explosive set piece, but a disturbing depiction of Dubai. The once-opulent city has been ravaged by sandstorms and transformed into an uninhabitable ghost town. Its impressive skyline, once defined by cloud-parting skyscrapers and architectural wonders, now struggles to peek above the mountainous dunes. While a number of me-too shooters have numbed our senses to the point where seeing familiar places destroyed by war or natural disaster is no longer effective—I lost count of how many times I battled through a war-torn New York City this year—Spec Ops’ sobering sights stuck with me long after my demo concluded.

Once you get past the initial shock of seeing this beautiful city in the sand now buried in it, the game settles into more comfortably familiar third-person-shooter territory. A bit like Gears of War with squad commands, Spec Ops utilizes a cover system that allows for quick maneuvering between points and the ability to vault over them; simple commands, such as instructing one of your two squadmates to snipe a roof-squatting evildoer, nicely complement the duck-and-cover action. If you’ve peered down the iron sights or lobbed grenades in any number of other games, it won’t be long before you feel right at home behind Spec Ops’ intuitive combat mechanics.

Of course, that pesky sand also comes into play during the firefights. Early on in my demo, I shot out an abandoned bus’ windows and witnessed its grainy contents envelop my enemies. Later, I was able to toss grenades to kick up mini-sandstorms, a great strategy for temporarily blinding baddies. Just as I started relying on Mother Nature as an ally, though, I discovered I could also land on the receiving end of her wrath. More than once, when I’d assumed I was treading solid ground, a glass ceiling or window would give way beneath my weight, revealing that my footing wasn’t as stable as I suspected. Similarly distressing was a blurring sandstorm that stirred up during one of my demo’s more intense firefights; adding severe disorientation to the obvious dangers inherent to a bullet-whizzing exchange made for some of the most thrilling—and terrifying—action I’d experienced in a shooter in recent memory.

More than the adrenaline-spiking action, though, it’s the promise of an absorbing narrative that’s placed Spec Ops smack-dab on my radar. Rather than crafting a story that sits in the background, barely visible under all the Hollywood-inspired action, developer Yager is putting its immersive tale front and center. Inspired by Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Spec Ops wants to tell a mature story, one that would work even if it weren’t accompanied by the cool ability to bury enemies in the sand. The complex narrative sees players tracking Colonel John Konrad (a nod to the aforementioned author), a former military mentor who disobeyed an order to evacuate Dubai following an attempted rescue effort. The Colonel, it seems, has gone way off the deep end—and may even be playing god to the people he was sent to help.

A number of unsettling narrative twists—supported by equally disturbing imagery—aim to engage players’ fragile psyches as much as their itchy trigger fingers. About halfway through my hands-on time, for example, I happened upon a group of expired American soldiers who’d apparently been bound and burned at the hands of the former Colonel. That mind-f***ing moment, though, paled in comparison to what came later; upon approaching a pair of prisoners hanging by their tied hands, a voice—presumably that of my mentor-turned-murderer—crackled over the radio and instructed me to execute one of the men. I refused, instead engaging the armed enemies surrounding the scene—letting both prisoners die in the process.

Yager later let me know that things could’ve played out differently had I chosen to kill one of the prisoners or even attempted to sever the ropes they were hanging from. That said, the developer stresses that these moral dilemmas are presented more as a means to get the player thinking rather than as a story-shaping mechanic. Instead of simply forging a path to an alternate ending, they want players’ actions to carry real weight and consequence within their minds. Again, the story, which seems to have more in common with psychologically driven dramas such as Showtime’s Homeland rather than Michael Bay–like blockbusters, is dark, mature, and much more than a supporting player to the lock-and-load action. Based on my time in Spec Ops’ emotionally taxing world, I can’t wait to uncover all its dark secrets—and, yes, bury dudes in the sand—when it arrives next year.

Spec Ops: The Line release date set
Get it worldwide in June.
(gematsu)

2K Games and Yager Development’s Spec Ops: The Line will debut for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on June 26 in North America, and on June 29 internationally, it has been announced.

Consumers who pre-order The Line will receive a free upgrade to the Premium Edition, which includes the following bonus multiplayer content:

Twice the amount of experience points will be awarded during the first week of play, enabling gamers to expedite character ranking.
The AK-47 weapon will unlock at rank one.
The Officer Class will unlock at rank one. This character class includes several team-based advantages, such as reducing damage to teammates and increasing the effectiveness of other classes.
Access to the FUBAR Pack, which contains exclusive accessories allowing players to customize their characters with unique and visually distinctive items.

Spec Ops: The Line sees the city of Dubai buried under after a series of cataclysmic sandstorms. As Captain Martin Walker, players will traverse the city in search of Colonel John Konrad and his missing battalion, The Damned 33rd, utilizing the sand element in what 2K describes as a “gripping third-person shooter.” It aims to create a game that “explores the dark realities of war and places players in difficult situations where the line between right and wrong becomes increasingly blurred as players fight to survive.”

The game’s multiplayer mode is an “expansive, class-based” experience. It features squad-based games set in the sandstorm torn Dubai.

Just finished the campaign. Grabe, ganda ng story, ayos din yung game play. One of the best 3rd person shooter I've played ever. Feels like uncharted because of Nolan North, but that is one of the reason the game is so awesome.

Story:
You play as Captain Walker of a Delta Force with 2 members with you, you're on a rescue mission in Dubai and ended up l a mess. Don't wanna spoil it but spec ops: the line has one of the best story in a shooter I've ever played. You make decisions, right or wrong, just move forward. It feels like a book or a big movie, unlike most games out there that the story felt like it was written by a 10 year old. It can give you a psychological bang or something. The characters are nice and you will get tied to them as the story progress.

Design:
The graphics and design are good, it really feels like you're in post-war dubai. The graphics are not really Uncharted good but good enough to make you go "Wow". Though there are few occasional times that the textures load late which is a downer.

One thing I noticed is as the chapters go by, the character looks changes also, they look banged and fucked up as fire fight goes on until near the end and because of that it feels like you're really progressing through the story.

Sound:
The voice acting is one of the best, if you love Uncharted, you will feel at home since Capt. Walker is also voice by Nathan Drakes' Nolan North. The voice acting is very good, the emotions feels very real because of it. Sound effects are also nice and the music really gets you in the mood like a movie.

Gameplay:
The gameplay for campaign is excellent, for me at least. Aiming is smooth and precise, shooting and killing gives a nice sensation because on how the enemies react to the bullets. The feel of the guns are great, even handguns feel powerful.

The cover system is Gears of War good, if not better, though it might get clunky sometimes because the cover is binded with the sprint button.

One of the coolest stuff in Spec Ops: The Line is the way you can use sand to kill enemies, there are spots on the glass wall that you can shoot so tons of sand will break to your enemies. When a frag grenade explode, sands will be kick up and will blind you or your enemies

Multiplayer isnt really a thing to look on Spec Ops. It feels its just chocolate sprinkle on an already excellent cake. It's just a standard 4 on 4 multiplayer with nothing really special. Capture point, free for all, deathmatch. Just an ordinary 3rd person multi.

Conclusions:
It might not dethrone the Uncharted series but definitely a worthy 2nd or 3rd place for the Solid story line and gameplay. Might need to fix that late loading textures but not really a big deal personally. If you're looking for a good multiplayer then Spec Ops: The Line is not for you, the thing is that the game is all about the single player experience.

Meron lang isa akong minor complaint dito and that is the loading times when you restart a checkpoint, because you will likely die alot of times in this game and those long loading times when you die is quite frustrating.

Meron lang isa akong minor complaint dito and that is the loading times when you restart a checkpoint, because you will likely die alot of times in this game and those long loading times when you die is quite frustrating.

Story is interesting and graphics is really good. May minor complains lang ako sa controls pero no big deal naman. Overall, this is a quality game that is worth any gamers time na mahilig sa barilan na game